22.1.06

''Former Pentagon analyst Larry A. Franklin was sentenced Friday to 12 years and seven months in jail for sharing classified information with American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists and Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000.In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said he believed Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it.''

''Franklin believed the National Security Council was insufficiently concerned with the threat posed by an unspecified Middle Eastern nation, the judge said. Franklin thought leaking information might eventually persuade the Security Council to take more serious action, he said.While the Middle Eastern country was not named in the court record, sources and the facts of the case point to Iran.''

Did you read what the judge said ? This is a farce ! I mean with this kind of praise, why jail the man ? Israel and the US are, after all, hand in hand escalating matters with Iran and pressing the security council to impose sanctions on Iran. I am sure that the form of the sentence is meant for a pardon ! This man will get out of jail at the end of Bush's term !